


i'll never let you go

by needmesomepie



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Drowning, M/M, and not ready for s3, before everything goes to shit next week, so have a thing that doesn't end in disaster, these boys are so in love with each other and i am emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 00:52:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/needmesomepie/pseuds/needmesomepie
Summary: Billy had never seen Steve in the pool.He was there every weekend with that group of little rats, sitting on the side like a good mother hen, watching and observing as they played in the pool. He’d buy them ice cream and look after their bags, sitting on that same sun lounger, under the same red umbrella. His hair was always fluffy, his skin far too pale for someone who spent every weekend sitting out here basking in the same sun. Those ray bans he seemed to love so much perched atop his nose, shielding his eye line from anyone who cared enough to notice.The kids would all laugh, chuck comments back at Steve, he’d join in from his seat.But Billy had never once seen Steve dip in even a toe.





	i'll never let you go

**Author's Note:**

> look at me bringing my shitty ramblings from tumblr to here again, you're so very welcome

Billy had never seen Steve in the pool.

He was there every weekend with that group of little rats, sitting on the side like a good mother hen, watching and observing as they played in the pool. He’d buy them ice cream and look after their bags, sitting on that same sun lounger, under the same red umbrella. His hair was always fluffy, his skin far too pale for someone who spent every weekend sitting out here basking in the same sun. Those ray bans he seemed to love so much perched atop his nose, shielding his eye line from anyone who cared enough to notice.

The kids would all laugh, chuck comments back at Steve, he’d join in from his seat.

But Billy had never once seen Steve dip in even a toe.

He didn’t understand it. The idiot paid the entry fee and spent the entire time sitting and guarding a pile of towels and clothing that were never going to be stolen in the first place. Surely he wanted to join in?

That thought was what got Billy up off his chair and walking towards Steve. Well, that and the fact that after that particular night at the Byers’, Billy had felt he owed Steve more than just an apology and somewhere along the way, they’d developed a somewhat kind of friendship, or that’s what Billy was calling it anyways.

“Not joining the little rats, Harrington?” Billy teased, swaggered to a stop under the same umbrella Steve perched himself under week after week.

“Hey Hargrove.” Steve replied, ignored the question at hand.

Steve’s skin reflected the red material of the umbrella, made him look burnt even though he hadn’t spent more than a few seconds in the direct rays of the blazing summer sun. Small brown moles littered his arms, his legs, face.

“Busy?” Steve asked, dragged Billy from his staring. He could see Steve’s eye line through his glasses from here.

“Nah, there’s a surprising lack of little shits trying to kill themselves and each other today. Quite disappointing if you ask me.”

Steve let out a soft chuckle.

“Only you would be disappointed at the lack of disaster in a public pool.”

“This town could do with a cleanse.” Billy said it so nonchalantly, face set so hard that if Steve didn’t know Billy as well as he did, he might think he was actually being serious.

“Don’t say shit like that too loud, you’ll get sacked.”

“They won’t sack me, i’m too good at my job.”

“No, Billy. Every kid here is just far too terrified to misbehave incase you get down off that high arse chair of yours and fucking drown them.”

Billy just looked down at Steve, shit eating grin spread wide across his face. Of course, Billy considered  _that_  as being good at his job, Steve really should have guessed.

A scream was heard over the laughter and chatter in and around the pool. Billy missed the haunted look that found its way deep into Steve’s eyes, his head whipping round so fast because he  _actually gave a damn about his job thank you._

“Excuse me Harrington, I have a kid to go and drown.” Billy said, grin wide on his face again. Steve smiled back, let out a laugh that was far too empty but Billy was already walking away. Didn’t see the way Steve’s whole body had tensed since the sounding of a scream let out in fun.

 

—

 

Next weekend Steve brought a magazine. Well, a comic Billy realised as he walked around to where he was sitting, thought it must have been one of the kids’.

“What ya reading?”

“X-men, Dustin gave me little choice.” Billy laughed, knew Steve well enough to know he’d asked to borrow it.

“You’re becoming one of the nerds, Harrington. You should be careful.” Billy poked, smirked down at Steve.

“That a bad thing?” He asked, looked back up at Billy, caught his eyes even from behind those ridiculous sunglasses. And Billy stopped, his breath hitching, his heart beating in double time.  _No_ , he wanted to say,  _it’s not a bad thing_. It was endearing in all honesty, Billy liked that Steve was this soft, caring, nerdy mother hen. Was almost jealous in a way. He’d always loved the superheroes, had gotten lost in them as a kid, his mother bringing him a new magazine home every week. He’d be beaten to a pulp if that was a known fact now. Neil had burnt them all weeks after she’d died.

Steve smirked, “thought not.”

Billy coughed, gathered himself back together, stopped staring into those deep brown eyes hidden by a layer of black plastic.

“Joining them for a swim today?”

“Nah, i’ve just put suncream on, don’t want it to wash off.” There was an emptiness behind Steve’s words, Billy didn’t read too much into it, figured Steve just didn’t want to.

“Well, enjoy your comic, Harrington. I gotta go yell at some kids.”

“You do little else.” He said, joked, went back to reading under that same umbrella.

Billy walked away chuckling to himself, his heart a little warmer than before.  
  
  
—  
  
  
“Don’t you have your own pool?” Billy asked a few weekends later, strolling over to lean against the sun lounger Steve had once again perched himself on.

“It’s being cleaned.” Steve said, tipping his sun glasses onto his head, turning to look at Billy. Steve had been bringing the kids here for weeks, Billy knew for a fact it didn’t take that long to clean a pool, but there was something about the way Steve said it, something about the look in his eye that made Billy take those words at face value, made him not question the obvious.

“You’ve got something on your face.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve got something on your face.” Steve repeated, looking up at Billy.

“Where?” Billy asked, hand rubbing all over his face.

“There,” Steve said, pointed towards the side of Billy’s mouth.

Billy swiped his cheek, successfully missing the tiny little crumb on the corner of his mouth.

“Did I get it?” Billy asked, looking at Steve.

“No, it’s,” Steve started, getting up from the lounger to stand in front of Billy. He brought his hand up, cupped the side of Billy’s chin.

“Can I?” Steve asked, tilted his head towards his face. Billy just nodded, lost in the touch and the electricity sparking from Steve’s fingertips, sending shocks straight to his heart. His hand was warm, soft, gentle in all the right places. He stroked his thumb across the corner of Billy’s lips, getting rid of whatever crumb Billy had left there on his lunch break. Billy was completely lost in Steve’s touch, staring at his face, watching as his eyes followed the movements of his hand, saw them flick up to Billy’s. Neither spoke, just stared at each other, Steve’s hand still resting firm on his cheek.

“Got it.” Steve said, barely above a whisper.

“Thanks.” Billy replied, feeling Steve’s hand follow the movement of his jaw. Neither moved.

“STEVE!” Dustin’s voice carried through the laughter and chatter all around the pool.

Steve’s hand fell from Billy’s cheek, a slight grin on his face. Billy cleared his throat, smiled back.

“What?” Steve shouted back at Dustin.

“Can we have ice cream?” he asked, grinning wide.

“You never ask that, why are you asking that?” Steve asked, knowing they’d all usually just tell him they were going to get some from the small shack at the front of the pool, never give him a chance to say no.

“I kind of maybe forgot to bring extra money.” Dustin explained, far too casually for someone who was asking for money to be spent on him.

“Tell me why I ever agreed to look after these shits?” Steve sighed, turned back around to Billy. Billy just laughed.

“Hell if I know.” Steve chuckled, leant down to get some money from his bag.

“I’m going to kill him.” He said it under his breath, but Billy heard, laughed.

“Want some help?”

“Thanks, but I need to do this on my own.” Steve said, strong, stoic, determination settling across his face. Billy burst out laughing as Steve walked away.

  
  
—  
  
  
None of them turned up the next week, and Billy tried to tell himself that the feeling in the pit of his stomach wasn’t disappointment. In the same way he was now trying to convince himself that his heart beating in double time in his chest at the sight of Steve walking into the pool alone did not mean he was happy to see him.

He watched for a while, kept his sunglasses firm over his eyes. No one could see his eye line from up here. No one could see him staring at Steve every chance he got. He wasn’t reading anything today, just lying back, enjoying the sun’s heat as it broke through every seam in the umbrella always resting over him. They saw each other during the week sometimes, met up at the quarry to just talk, talk, drink and talk. They’d gotten closer, as much as Billy tried to deny it. He was sure he was reading too much into it, they were just friends. That was it. It didn’t matter that Billy wanted more.

Since that night at the Byers’, Billy had made it his mission to be nice to this whole group that he was being welcomed into nonetheless. They’d all welcomed him with open arms, forgiven him, told him what the hell had been going on. It had taken him a few hours to get his head around, but if he was going to be dragged out of California by his stupid dad, then a stupidly small town filled with monsters and Steve Harrington was the only compromise he thought he could ever make.

“Hey.” He’d been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed Steve walking over to him. He did a quick sweep of the pool to make sure he hadn’t missed a child drowning. Steve was far too distracting.

“Hey.” He replied when he was sure no one was in any immediate danger.

“What time do you get off?” Steve asked, nonchalant, looked up at Billy. And that wasn’t fair, that did things to Billy’s heart that he really didn’t want to happen. It was bad enough falling for a guy, but falling for a straight one in a town like this was a thousand times worse.

“Billy?” Steve interrupted his whirlwind of thoughts.

“Uh, six. Why?”

“Joyce is doing dinner, invited us all along. You in?”

“Yeah of course, what time?”

“Seven.”

“I’ll be there.” Billy said with a familial warmth he’d never experienced before he’d been adopted into this weird monster hunting family.

“Good.” Steve said, definite, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, a stress had been blown into the breeze, dumped at the bottom of the pool packed with people.

“Can i interest you in a swim today, princess?” Billy said, used the nickname he knew, deep down, Steve didn’t completely hate. Steve looked up at him, raised an eyebrow not dissimilar from when they’d pushed each other around at school, before that night, laughed.

“Too many people in there today.” He answered, a finality to his words. Billy didn’t question it, he just nodded, agreed. The pool was packed, they’d had to close the doors to stop people coming in, the rare Hawkins summer heat a major attraction.

“Where are all of your little ducklings? Thought they’d be desperate for the pool on a day like this.”

“They started Dungeons and Dragons yesterday and never got the chance to finish, that took priority.”

“Nerdy little shits.” Steve laughed.

“You love them really.” And that was the thing, Billy did. Even Dustin when he took all of Steve’s attention from him to make some ridiculous comment. He’d chuck himself in front of any otherworldly creature that so much as threatened any of them and that wasn’t a realisation Billy had been ready to have.

He missed the small smile that crept onto Steve’s face as he watched the emotions crossing Billy’s.

“I should probably let you get back to work, can’t be the reason some poor kid drowns because you were too busy chatting to me.”

_I like talking to you_  is what he wanted to say,  _I don’t mind you staying_  is what he probably should have said, instead he just nodded at Steve as he waved, walked back to the sun lounger under that red umbrella that wasn’t his, but everyone knew it was where he sat on a Saturday afternoon.  
  
  
Steve walking to the other side of the pool didn’t exactly make Billy more focused on preventing drowning and fighting in the pool, it just meant that now he was looking over the crowds of people to get a glimpse, rather than down beside his life guarding chair.

Steve was lying back, arms crossed over his chest, sunglasses down over his eyes. He watched as a few people came over to chat to him, old mates from school, others he knew through living in such a small town. He was friendly, but not overly so, not even to the few girls that came up and were obviously flirting. Billy would have blown his whistle if ‘stop flirting with the straight guy i like’ wasn’t the only reason he had for wanting to kick them out.

Billy glanced over every now and again, kept his sunglasses firm on his face, stared a little too long. He wasn’t the only one working today, he told himself he didn’t need to be on the ball, that spending four minutes in every five staring at Steve and the other one to glare at children was perfectly acceptable. Especially when the sun was reflecting off of Steve’s pale skin and making him look like a shimmering orb floating across from him. He was captivating, to say the least. He couldn’t tear his gaze away even though he knew he should.

 

Steve stayed longer this time than usual, sitting on that lounger, occasionally getting up and walking around the pool, chatting to a few different people, getting himself and Billy an ice cream on his break. But he never once got into the pool, no matter how much the population of the pool dwindled into the late afternoon. Billy couldn’t understand why, he’d spent his entire day on the edge of a pool he’d paid an entry fee to swim in.

 

Soon the pool was closing and Billy walked over to Steve, still sitting on that lounger.

“Pool’s closing, Harrington.”

“I know, figured we could go to Joyce’s together?” Billy’s heart stammered to a stop in his chest. Steve  _wasn’t_  asking him to dinner, but his stupid hung up heart sure as hell made him feel like he was.

“We don’t have to, if you don’t want to.” Steve said, quieter, shy, Billy’s face still blank in expression.

“Yes. I mean, i do want to. But what about your car?” Billy choked out, stumbled over his words in an attempt to convince Steve that he absolutely did want to go there with him.

“Oh, i walked here, needed the fresh air.” Steve said, looked away from Billy. There was something behind that comment, Billy could tell. He didn’t press.

“Well, i just need to clear a few things up here. You can jump in if you want, have the whole pool to yourself, perk of knowing me that.” Billy joked, winked, made the offer to Steve. But Steve didn’t reply, just stared at the water in dread. And Billy did catch it that time, that haunted look, the way Steve’s breathing quickened in pace, the way his hand trembled by his side and he realised that maybe it wasn’t that Steve just didn’t want to get in the pool, but maybe he was actually  _scared_  of it.

“Hey.” He said, tried to get his attention. But Steve was still staring at the pool.

He reached an arm out, went to rest it on his shoulder. He’d barely made contact when Steve literally jumped where he stood. His eyes flew to Billy’s, panic set hard and fast and obvious.

“Hey, Steve. It’s okay.” Billy said, ignored his use of Steve’s first name. Steve just kept staring at him, eyes pleading for something, anything other than what was going through his mind. So Billy stepped forward, slowly wrapped his arms around Steve, pulled him in tight. They didn’t get all touchy and feely often, but Billy had cried on Steve’s shoulder once. They were comfortable enough in each other’s company to show the more vulnerable side they both hid so well.

“It’s okay. Breathe. Follow me.” Billy whispered, told Steve to breathe in, then out, then in, then out, over and over until Steve’s breathing regulated, got a little deeper. Till he could manage on his own.

“Better?” Billy asked gently as he pulled back, caught Steve’s eye line.

“Yeah, thanks.” It was shaky and quiet and not at all quite there, but there was colour back on Steve’s cheeks and a little life back in his eyes. He was okay.

“We’re going now.”

“I thought you had to clean up?”

“Heather can do it, she owes me one anyway.”

Steve was still a little shaky on his feet as they walked to Billy’s car, Billy shouting over his shoulder at Heather so she knew to lock up. They got in and Billy looked over at Steve, knew whatever it was that had caused everything was still bothering Steve.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not yet.” And Billy could accept that. Knew Steve would tell him when he was ready.

  
  
—

  
  
To say Billy was shocked when he saw Steve following all of the kids into the pool the next weekend was an understatement to say the least. Steve had told him everything about Barb, how she’d all but died in his pool thanks to this other world that was apparently within touching distance of them at all times. He’d told him how it haunted him, how he couldn’t go near his pool anymore, how he had to keep the curtains shut so he couldn’t see it. He’d told him about his dreams, the nightmares, the ones where he saw everyone he loved being dragged to the bottom of that pool, how he’d never be able to save them. Billy hated himself for wondering if any of them had been about him. But he hadn’t expected him to turn up for a week or two at least.

“Hey nerds.” Billy said as he walked over to the group, no animosity behind his words. Various hellos were thrown back at him, ranging in level of heartfelt insult, but Billy did nothing but smile back at the 6 smiles thrown his way, watch as they all dumped their stuff on Steve and run and jump into the pool. He was supposed to blow his whistle on that and they knew it, but Billy turned a blind eye, pretended he hadn’t seen, turned to Steve.

“You okay?” He asked, concern lacing his words.

“Yeah.” Steve replied, convincing enough that Billy wasn’t worried.

“Sure?”

Steve met his eyes, nodded, smiled, “I’m fine, i’ve got you for a lifeguard.”

Billy tried to pick through every possible meaning of that sentence and didn’t find a single outcome that didn’t make his heart swoon. So he smiled, laughed, made a friendly hit to Steve’s shoulder, walked back over to his chair. He kept watch on him today, not just because he wasn’t exactly an eyesore, but to make sure he spotted any sign of panic if it were to set in again, made sure he’d be able to run over and get Steve out of whatever situation was triggering it.

It was exactly 34 minutes later when Steve got up and went over to talk to Tommy, Carol and a group of other people Billy recognised from school. He didn’t think much of it, Steve was friendly to everyone, even those he hadn’t seen eye to eye with last year. They laughed, joked around with each other, caught up on anything they’d missed since they’d last seen each other. Billy only caught snippets of the conversation, tried not to eavesdrop. Maybe if he had he’d have heard Tommy teasing Steve about going into the pool. Maybe he’d have seen the subtle glimpse of panic starting to creep its way onto Steve’s face.

He looked around just as Steve turned away from the group, went to walk away. Watched as Tommy stepped forward, put his hand to Steve’s back and  _pushed_. He didn’t manage to blow his whistle until Steve had already lost his footing, jumped down from his seat as his body met the water’s surface. He ran through the people and the chairs and the umbrellas, leapt into the water, barely heard the laughs and shouts of “he’s fine, Hargrove!” from Tommy’s group.

The sound dissipated once he was underwater, the laughs and the shouts and the voices from above nothing but a distant echo, his focus on Steve and Steve entirely. He could see him ahead, watched as everything moved in slow motion, felt the water pushing back against his every move, as if it didn’t want him to reach Steve in time. He pushed through, used every bit of strength he could muster to get close enough to hold Steve, drag him back up beyond the water’s surface. He could see that his eyes were shut, didn’t care how much the chlorine stung his, could see how limp his limbs were as he sunk further and further into the depths of the pool. He felt his heart breaking.

Relief shot through him when his fingers made contact with his waist, created a whole new push of strength to Billy’s movements and he kicked his feet as hard and fast as he possibly could, motivated by saving Steve, nothing more and nothing less.

Everything seemed to get louder, faster, more urgent as he broke from the water’s surface. He heard the screams and the panic, ignored what the voices were saying. Focused on Steve. He pushed his limp body onto the floor, lifted himself out of the pool, hung over him, checked if he was breathing. No. Checked if his heart was beating. No. Started compressions in the way he’d had days of training to perfect.

_One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four._

Training was all well and good until you had to transfer those skills from a lifeless dummy to the boy you were falling in love with hard and fast.

_One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four._

Nothing.

_Hold nose. Breathe._

It wasn’t how he’d ever pictured having his lips on Steve’s but somehow none of that mattered anymore. All he cared about was saving him. Saving Steve.

_One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four._  
  
_Hold nose. Breathe._  
  
A crowd had begun to gather around them. Billy shouted at them all to give him space, didn’t dare look around to see the kids’ faces, didn’t know if he could take it.

_One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four._  
_  
Hold nose. Breathe._

He tried not to think about the fact that he was watching Steve die in front of him. Tried to ignore the fact that he was basically, in all medical terms, already dead.

He checked his pulse. Nothing.

Leant down to check his breathing. Nothing.

He was so pale.

_One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four._  
_  
Hold nose. Breathe._

Steve coughed, choked up some water, relief shot through Billy. He sat him up, hit his back a couple of times, made sure he could breathe again.

Cheers and applause erupted around them and Billy wanted to kill them all, especially Tommy. Steve had almost  _died_. This wasn’t a celebration.

Billy picked him up, shouted at Heather to call an ambulance, carried him through to the changing rooms, sat him down on one of the benches. He knelt in front of him, rested his hands on his knees.

“How do you feel?”

“Like shit.” Steve’s voice was hoarse, broken in places. But it was his voice. Billy hadn’t been sure he was ever going to hear it again. He ignored the sting in his eyes, looked up at Steve.

“I’m going to kill Tommy.” Billy said, whispered under his breath, anger seeping into every syllable.

“No you’re not.”

“He almost  _killed you_  Steve.”

“It was an accident. I’m okay.”

“But you nearly weren’t.”

“You saved me.”

And Billy had, but it didn’t feel like it. He hated himself for not looking sooner, for not realising what was happening before it was.

“Hey,” Steve said as if he could hear the thoughts running at a thousand miles through his mind, brought a hand up to Billy’s cheek, “there was nothing more you could have done.”

“I’m sorry.” Billy said. Steve rubbed his thumb over Billy’s cheek. There was colour to his face now, a subtle pink tinge to his cheeks.

“Where are the kids?”

Almost as if on cue, Heather poked her head around the corner, told them the ambulance was outside.

“You’ve got some visitors if that’s okay?” She asked, directed it at Steve, “i took them away as soon as i saw what was going on.”

Steve nodded, the expression on his face one of thankfulness and appreciation.

All of a sudden twelve feet ran into the room, stopped in front of Steve and six voices all started asking if he was okay.

“Hey, give him some space okay? He’s alright but he needs to get checked out at the ambulance. Why don’t you go with him?” Billy said, broke them apart for a few seconds before they were all nodding, leading Steve out to the front of the building. He was steady on his feet Billy noticed as he turned his head just before he went round the corner, smiled at Billy in a way that screamed 'thank you’.

Then Billy was on his own and it was like the reality of what had just happened hit him, the seriousness of the situation and how close he was to losing Steve bared clear in front of him and he lost it, broke down on the floor of the changing room. He could barely control his breathing, tears flowing uncontrollably from his eyes, sobs wracking his entire body. His hands were shaking, his legs collapsed beneath him.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, wasn’t paying attention to anything until he heard a distant “hey’ directed at him. He couldn’t look up, too lost in the sight of Steve lying dead in front of him on the concrete floor of the pools edge.

"Hey.” He heard again, slightly louder this time.

“Billy!” It sounded familiar, like someone he should be listening to. He felt a hand on his arm, felt it shake him a little.

“Billy?” It was gentler that time, calmer. Billy looked up, could just make out the shape of Steve through blurred vision, “what’s wrong?”

Billy leapt forward and grabbed Steve, wrapped his arms firmly around his shoulders, let tears drip down onto them.

“I thought you were going to die.” He whispered, felt Steve’s arms embrace him tighter.

“You saved me Billy. I’m alive.” Steve whispered back, lump present in his throat, tears threatening to spill from the place they stayed hidden.

Steve felt a few more sobs as they vibrated through Billy’s body, held him tight until he was sure he could move back and look into Billy’s eyes.

“Thank you.” He said, and Billy knew he meant it.

“Don’t do that again.”

“I promise i don’t want to.” Steve quipped, quirked the corner of his mouth into a slight smirk. Billy smiled back.

“You okay?” Billy asked.

“No,” It was honest, “you?”

“No.”

They both fell back into the hug at the same time, held on so tight it was almost a promise,  _'i won’t let you go’_.

Steve heard Billy sniff a few times, held him tighter. Billy felt Steve’s hands tremble slightly, pulled him closer.

And they stayed there, on the floor of the Hawkins public pool changing room, holding each other until they felt strong enough to stand again on their own.

  
  
—

  
  
Later that night, after they’d spent hours in silence and then crying and then hugging and then talking, drowning out everything from the past few hours in the bottom of a bottle of whiskey, Steve leant over to Billy.

“I heard you had to give me mouth to mouth.”

“I did.”

“Not quite how i imagined our first kiss.” Billy was too drunk to think too much into that. Too drunk to remember that up until that second he thought Steve was straight and very much  _just_   _a_   _friend_.

“Me neither.”

“I don’t remember it.”

“It wasn’t great.”

Steve turned to Billy, Billy met his eyes. They both stared at each other, lost in a gaze that spoke a thousand words and none all at the same time.

“Want to try again?” Steve asked, edging closer to Billy, putting a hand on his thigh.

Billy didn’t respond, instead put a hand on the side of Steve’s face, brushed his lips on his, “only if it won’t be the last time,” he whispered, the words ghosting over Steve’s lips. Steve answered by closing the millimetre of distance between them and kissing Billy for real. He felt Billy melt into it, felt the need to get closer, to be sure Steve wasn’t going to slip away. Felt the emotions of the day fly through the air and wrap around them, coating them like a blanket, pushing them closer together.

They hadn’t forgotten what had happened earlier, nor anything from all of the days before. But all of a sudden they knew they didn’t have to gather the strength to stand alone through it anymore, because there would always be someone helping them back up, or at least sitting by their side until it didn’t seem so hard to stand and face it all again.

  
And maybe they woke up the next morning in the same bed, limbs tangled together in a mess of skin and duvet and discarded clothing. Maybe Billy turned to Steve and smiled, pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around his waist and maybe Steve kissed the top of his head and snuggled in closer to him.

And maybe their next Saturday afternoon was filled with staring and flirting and making out in the changing room during Billy’s break.

And maybe when they woke up a few weeks later, Steve saw Billy glancing longingly at the X-men comic sitting beside his bed, and maybe Steve wordlessly handed it to him, kissed him, laid back down in his bed.

And maybe Billy told Steve he loved him.

And maybe, just maybe, Steve told Billy he loved him too.

**Author's Note:**

> i'd like to say i'm not going to hit you with death next time but uh, i am so
> 
> sorry in advance
> 
> come scream about harringrove with me (or at me) on [tumblr](https://lemonflavouredspatula.tumblr.com/)


End file.
